The Grammy Awards, the most prestigious and sought-after award in the music industry, recently announced their nominations for the show which will take place on Feb. 15. Their nominations are under criticism unlike any year before for selecting many unknown and frankly underwhelming artists for the honor.

There were the usual nominees, Taylor Swift with seven, but the Academy faced a huge backlash when it was realized that rapper Kendrick Lamar had received the most nominations, with 11 opportunities to take home the award.
Upon seeing that this rapper had been nominated so many times for such a prestigious prize I researched and delved into his work, focusing on his newest album “To Pimp A Butterfly”, which is nominated for Album of the Year. His rapping style is slow like he is drifting off into a deep sleep, and his voice is raspy like he was diagnosed with a mild case of Laryngitis immediately before recording the album. His lyrics did not redeem his pathetic attempt at rapping, with them being the usual meaningless rap garbage. Needless to say, his album is far from being quality enough to qualify getting good sales, which it did by selling 750,000 albums, let alone being nominated for 11 Grammys.

The Grammys recently have had an air for controversy, with social media exploding, Beck was shockingly and undeservedly awarded Album of the Year at the 2015 show, beating the unbelievably talented and successful Beyonce, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith and Pharrell Williams.

The award show, in recent years, has drifted farther away from its duty of rewarding the best in music, choosing instead to base their nominations on money and what seems to be a spontaneous and nonsensical manner.The award needs to go back to its roots, only being handed to who had produced the best quality music of the year.
As the Grammy’s reputation plummets, the loyal fans continue to stick by their side even in this time of the Academy’s unreliability. More understandable nominations include; Can’t Feel My Face and Uptown Funk for Record of the Year as well as Taylor Swift and the Weeknd being nominated for Album of the Year. The nominees for Album and Record of the Year are unusually well-rounded, each containing a Pop, Country and Rap genre nominee.
Ed Sheeran, a fan favorite, is up for three awards, two for his hit song “Thinking Out Loud”, and one for featuring on the Weeknd’s album “Beauty Behind the Madness”. Swift will likely take home quite a few awards for her newest album “1989”, which sold 4 million copies in just 12 weeks.

Other than a few surprises, the nominees for the 2016 Grammys are proud representations of today’s music.